Physiochemical Quality Assessment of Surface and Groundwater Sources A Case Study of Southwest, Nigeria

Abstract

Surface and ground waters can originate from rain, the ocean, glaciers, lakes, ponds, wells, rivers, springs, and boreholes, among other places. These waters must be pollution-free for them to be useful. For this reason, the study evaluated the quality of water samples from three states and identified pollution based on physicochemical characteristics. In all, thirty-four water samples (dug well, rivers, borehole, and rain) were obtained from Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti State, and on-the-spot determinations of pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), and temp (temperature) using a portable multi-parameter meter (the Temp/pH/TDS/EC meter), was made to measure the pH, temperature, TDS, and electrical conductivity in situ. The mean results were as follows: pH (6.87), temperature (28.17 oC), TDS (126.71 mg/L), and electrical conductivity (253.06 μs/cm). There were correlations (EC has a high positive association with TDS (r = 0.999, Cl = (0.998, 1.000) and a modest link with Temp (r = 0.233, Cl = (-0.106, 0.528). It should be noted that there were weak relationships between pH and temperature (r=0.139), TDS (r=0.027), and EC (r=0.022)) and the cluster analysis showed only a cluster of the water sample locations. The investigation revealed that the physicochemical were within the acceptable ranges of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Nigeria Standard for Water Quality (NSDWQ).